


Take My Hand

by alcxhardy



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Ending, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-07
Updated: 2020-01-07
Packaged: 2021-02-27 15:01:40
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,419
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22159018
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alcxhardy/pseuds/alcxhardy
Summary: An alternate, of sorts. Rey and Ben's final battle.
Relationships: Kylo Ren/Rey, Rey/Ben Solo
Comments: 8
Kudos: 15





	Take My Hand

**Author's Note:**

> Wrote this a few years ago after watching The Force Awakens, now that the Sequel Trilogy has ended with TROS, I decided to post it here impulsively, just to see what happens. (and no, I don't hate Ben.)
> 
> Content warning for graphic depictions of violence. 
> 
> Long live Rey.

_"There are no bargains between lions and men. I will kill you and eat you raw."_

\- Madeline Miller, The Song of Achilles. 

*

It was just the two of them now, like before. Only this time the ultimatum hung thick and stagnant: join or die. Join, or _be killed._ The wind whipped around the two figures, blowing their unkempt hair into their faces with a harsh sting. They were far enough away to read each other’s expressions, even talk to each other without threat, but even still, both of them held their lightsabers in closed fists, ready.   
Rey had never been as scared as she was in this moment, and yet, with all that she'd learned, she wasn’t trembling. A deep fire burned in her core, filled her with warmth and rage and longing. The desire to do whatever it took.   
Watching the man's face, she saw a smirk creep over his lips, first menacing, and then tender when she didn’t respond.

“Now I’ve taken everything from you,” he boomed. “Isn’t it time you joined me? I know you’ve thought about it.”

Rey's lip quivered. “You’re right,” she whispered. “I’ve thought about it. I’ve thought about joining you, training under you, getting” - with a sneer - “close to you, earning your trust. Even being your Equal has crossed my mind. But then I think about what I’d have to do to be there, to stay there. It makes me sick. And then I think about killing you with my own hands. Watching you bleed out like the monster you are. And I prefer that option.”

She flinched when he threw his head back and laughed, a deep, echoing laugh that seemed as if it would go on forever.

“You think these things freely, and then deny that your destiny is with the Dark side?” He steadied his gaze then, and their eyes locked. Hazel wildfire against an onyx galaxy. “You are a naive fool.”

“Maybe so, but I’m still going to win.”

The buzz of Rey's lightsaber was enough. Kylo Ren activated his own, red light shooting out from the hilt. He took a strike at her with a yell.  
Rey dodged, falling to the ground and rolling to her feet where she parried, and with a sharp twist, struck him on the ear.   
Ren cried out, shook his head like a dog trying to rid itself of rain. He pressed a finger to his ear and pulled away a bloody hand.   
Rage bubbled up inside him; lunging forward he struck at Rey with all his might, bashing his lightsaber against hers. Blue and red - two sides of the same light. The blades crackled as their wielders stared at each other through their weapons, Kylo’s lip quivering as Rey blinked from the heat on her face. 

“Ben,” she tried, calmly. “Leave this behind. Come home to those who want you.”

“Nobody’s ever wanted me!” He screamed at her. “Not my father, not your precious Skywalker. Not even my mother tried to save me from her brother!”

“It’s not true,” Rey hissed. “They loved you, all of them. They cared so much about you that they _died_ trying to bring you home. Your façade doesn’t scare anybody. You’re nothing but a scared and... pathetic young man who couldn’t see what he had until it was gone. And now you’ll never get it back, do you hear me? You’ll never get back what you had. You made sure of that.”

“DONT TALK TO ME ABOUT THAT!!!” 

With a swipe, he thrust his lightsaber down on her shoulder. Rey screamed out, stumbled backwards as her flesh burned, cauterised. Sweat rolled down her forehead, caught on her lip. Her urge to charge at him made her knees weak, but she remembered Luke and the ways of the Jedi. Swallowing hard, Rey pushed the panic down inside herself, focused on the numbness of her shoulder to remind her why she was here. Picking herself up, she stood firm.   
Kylo Ren edged closer, his boots clunking on the ground. A tear fell from his eye and rolled down his cheek, a glistening spark of remorse. For a moment he seemed almost human. Broken, defeated. 

Rey deactivated the lightsaber, stood her ground as he stepped closer. Eventually, she held out her hand.   
Ben frowned, his brow knitting a deep line across his forehead. Rey gazed at the scar she’d left on his face and neck, how it’d healed into a pink branding. A sign of her strength. Her opponent blinked as he looked at her hand, and met her eyes. Inhaling, he reached out his left hand to touch her, brush her fingertips with his own.   
Rey wheeled backwards, her saber igniting as she slashed his arm off at the elbow, his lightsaber flying to the ground with a crackle and deactivating. Kylo Ren let out a wail, falling to his knees as he clutched his arm. 

“I’m sorry,” he wheezed, panting, tears streaming from his eyes. “Rey. I’m sorry.” A lump in his throat, a last reprise, almost a choral plea. “It was all a mistake. I want to go back. The things I’ve done.. I’m so alone.” 

“Maybe so,” Rey sighed. “I’m sorry, Ben.”

With a swift slash, she sliced his torso open with her saber, enough for him to stay alive. Rey flinched as he screamed, an animal's howl, choked on blood that had risen up his throat: an ungodly sound unrivalled to anything she’d ever heard before. It brought tears to her eyes to hear the sounds of suffering, the sounds that Kylo Ren had inflicted on everyone around him, the suffering that _Ben_ had chosen to allow.

Ben clutched his stomach with his remaining hand, blood pouring out and staining the ground crimson. He groaned, shaking, keeling over and gagging as if he might vomit up black blood. Rey turned away as Ben’s shaking hand pressed the spill of intestines back into his body, what seemed like an ocean of blood pouring out and pooling towards her, the dark stench of death approaching. The images stained her eyelids, kept themselves picture-perfect in her brain.   
By now, Ben's murmurs were weakening. 

Rey closed her eyes. “You always wanted to be just like Darth Vader.” She activated her saber once more. “How does it feel?”

Rey wielded her weapon, lip pulling into a scowl as she sliced through sinew, stained her hands with molten carcass, severed his legs. Just like Anakin Skywalker on the shores of Mustafar. Just like the man Ben Solo had tried - and failed - to be. 

“But you’re not him,” she murmured. “And I won’t leave you like him, to die like an animal.”

Tears streamed down her cheeks as she plunged her weapon through his heart, felt the crack of his ribcage, the burn of his flesh. Ben reached instinctively to clutch at something, grappled for the saber, but instead latched onto Rey's collar and pulled her towards him, clung to the fabric, until they were centimetres apart. His fingers held strong, keeping her close. Rey stared into his eyes as they blinked slowly, eyelashes brushing against his skin. A vortex of almond galaxy, burning their last. Rey's saber deactivated as the light in Ben's eyes went out, the hilt sliding against his torso and propelling her weight onto his chest. They hit the ground with a thud, the crack of his skull. Hot blood soaked into Rey's clothes, and she crawled away, clutching the saber’s hilt between her fingers. Her panting engulfed her, the taste in her mouth like iron. The world was silent, save from the pounding of her heart, the thump of lingering existence. 

Kneeling over Ben, Rey brushed her hand over his eyes, closing his eyelids gently. She traced the jagged scar across his face with her finger, and then the tears came uncontrollably, slid down her cheeks, blocked her nose as she allowed herself to sob, hands shaking. She stroked his cheek with a shaking finger, kissed his forehead gently. 

“Ben...” 

Tugging at his cloak, Rey pulled the fabric over his mangled body, hid his face behind a veil of darkness. Nobody need see what she’d done, what Ben Solo had become. 

She dropped her lightsaber, or rather, noticed that it fell from her numb fingers and clattered against the ground. Her vision blurred from sobbing, and as she gazed at the lightsaber lying at her feet, Rey wondered if she’d ever need to use it again, and if the time ever came, whether she could...


End file.
